* Extendign his support to the Uddhav Thackeray, in Mumbai, said, "I always would come with late Bal Thackeray to vote but today he is not among us. But, we are moving ahead on the direction shown by him and it is also coincidental that when I vote today, BJP Prime Ministerial candidate Narendra Modi is also filing his nomination papers."

* Tens of thousands gathered at Varanasi on Thursday to join a roadshow that will culminate in BJP's prime ministerial candidate Narendra Modi filing his nomination for the Lok Sabha election. The crowd massed outside the Banaras Hindu University (BHU) where Modi is scheduled to garland a statue of its founder, Madan Mohan Malaviya, at the start of the show of strength.

* His supporters kept raising slogans praising Modi. "Modiji is our future, and the entire BHU is with him," said an undergraduate student of the university wearing a Modi mask -- like many others. Most people in the overwhelmingly male gathering wore identical saffron caps.